Tomorrow morning Telecom stores around New Zealand will open and customers will be able to enjoy the XT Mobile Network.

On the eve of launch, Telecom has revealed its suite of pricing plans that incorporate the concepts of One Rate pricing, per second billing after the first minute and the innovative option of shared calling plans. Some exciting handset offers are also being released.

Each plan is designed to give customers certainty, make it easy to understand what’s on offer, and provide customers with the flexibility that they have asked us for says Telecom Retail CEO, Alan Gourdie.

“We have reduced the number of mobile plans on offer from 60 to just 14 – in response to customers telling us they want choosing a plan to be easy. “With Telecom’s new One Rate plans, customers will no longer have to worry if they are calling during on-peak or off-peak, or to someone on the same or different network - now it’s all One Rate,” says Mr Gourdie. On Telecom’s new One Rate 250 plan for example, for $99.95 a month Telecom customers will receive 250 minutes, at a per minute rate of $0.40. And that rate will apply to all minutes after the 250 have been used - no matter when or which network they call.

“By contrast, on the equivalent competitor plan, once you’ve used those 250 minutes at a rate of $0.44 a minute, they charge $0.55 a minute for each additional minute – that’s a steep jump of 25% and something you will not experience with One Rate,” says Mr Gourdie. For business customers and families, Telecom has introduced the new ability to share minutes between the team or whanau, and take advantage of a lower per minute calling rate and free calling between business group members.

Share Calling plans can have between two and 10 users and are perfect for businesses that want the flexibility to add a new staff member to their plan during the busy Christmas period, and then remove them once the summer is over.

For example, two people on a Share 250 plan could share 250 minutes for $114.95* a month, at a per minute rate of $0.40. By contrast, with another provider they would need to purchase a plan each, costing them more per month for less minutes and a higher rate per minute for the calls they make.

Examples of how this all comes together were also revealed today with some great value postpaid and handset offers released.

The Samsung F480, a full touch screen device with 5mega pixel (MP) camera will retail for $449 on a 24 month One Rate 100 plan, or if you’re looking for a great talk and text device, then a free Telecom R6 when you sign up to a 24 month One Rate 100 plan may be of interest. Both offers also include My Favourites for free so customers can talk to their favourite person on any Telecom network free for two years.

Prepaid customers also benefit from the One Rate concept with all calls being charged at a per minute rate of $0.89. Prepaid customers also receive per second billing after the first minute of a call which means their top-up goes further, and a bonus credit of between 25% and 33% when they top up.

“So, not only do you get more bang for your buck, but the amount you are charged accurately reflects the time you talk. For example, if you talk for 64 seconds with Telecom One Rate prepaid that call will cost $0.95 vs $1.78 for the same length call on Vodafone Supa prepay,” says Mr Gourdie.

Telecom’s exclusive Bebo offer was also revealed today. Customers purchasing a Samsung C5220 on One Rate Prepaid for $249 will receive the following free for three months: Bebo text and picture messaging, one free My Favourites number, free 20MB of mobile email and internet each month, 600 texts to any NZ mobile, and access to free and exclusive Bebo video content.

A variety of Telecom Extras can be added to each One Rate or Shared Calling plan giving customers the option of bolstering their mobile broadband or texts. Three texting plans have been introduced giving customers who text a little or a lot options between $6 and $18 a month.

Casual mobile broadband will be charged at a rate of $1 a day for usage up to 10MB. Those wanting more can choose from one of seven data plans between 20MB and 3Gig priced between $6 and $84.95 a month.

All Telecom Extras are available on postpaid or prepaid. Postpaid plans can be taken open term or for 12 or 24 months.

These new plans are available for customers choosing a new device and connecting to the XT Mobile Network from Friday (29 May) morning. The new XT Mobile Network device range will be available for purchase at any Telecom retail store and partner store across NZ during normal opening hours, or 24/7 online at www.telecom.co.nz from 7.30am Friday.

Customers who move to the XT Mobile Network, from Telecom’s existing mobile network or a competitor network, won’t need to change their phone number. Telecom and Gen-i have a range of offers to make it easy for both new and existing customers to switch. Telecom’s current mobile network continues to operate and will be supported as normal following the XT Mobile Network launch tomorrow.

Wow.. guess the other items like txts are the normal 20c thereafter? .. and the TXT 150/600/1500 are T2T only? I like the idea of a Shared plan.. like getting One Rate 250, and sharing it with another mobile so both have the same pool of Calling Minutes etc :) good idea.

gtxboyracer: Wow.. guess the other items like txts are the normal 20c thereafter? .. and the TXT 150/600/1500 are T2T only? I like the idea of a Shared plan.. like getting One Rate 250, and sharing it with another mobile so both have the same pool of Calling Minutes etc :) good idea.